


New Apartment

by hopeangel11



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Fluff, Lirry is everything, M/M, SO FLUFFY, these boys are everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 08:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4013488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeangel11/pseuds/hopeangel11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam's best friend, Niall, moves into a new apartment next door to a very cheeky and flirty curly-haired lad named Harry. After Niall is settled into his new home with Liam's help, Harry thinks Liam is his new neighbour, and - Well, let's just say Liam doesn't seem to mind letting Harry keep thinking that for a little while. Can't really blame Liam, when Harry looks that hot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Apartment

After letting out a huff as he carefully sets down the last box in the apartment, Liam stands up and stretches his arms over his head. He catches his breath and wipes his face with a towel Niall throws at him before they both take a seat on the brand new couch Niall bought just for this apartment.

“Well, that’s finally the last box.”

“Yeah,” Niall says breathlessly, letting out an overdramatic sigh as he leans his head against Liam’s shoulder. “One too many. Actually, that was _way_ too many boxes. I didn’t even think I had that many things.”

“You didn’t even carry _any_ of them inside,” Liam grumbles, trying to move away from Niall’s _barely_ sweaty head on his shoulder.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Payno! I just moved in and you’re already bringing negative energy into my new home.”

“Then you should’ve at least carried _some_ boxes full of _your_ things.”

“Would’ve wasted my strength when you have _those_ arms,” Niall counters playfully. He sits up on the couch and starts poking Liam’s arm, making his best friend wiggle away from his fingers. “I mean, look at them! What’s the point of getting all fit and muscular when you don’t even show it all off, let alone use them for what their mean to do?”

Scoffing and grabbing onto Niall’s hands to stop them from poking him, Liam retorts with, “I don’t work out regularly so I can carry all your stuff in here. All you did was carry that one lamp, some picture frames, and _pillows_. They barely weigh anything!”

“Psh. They weren’t _that_ light. And besides, you gotta show off those guns of yours eventually, you know?”

“No, I d- “

“Well, you already did, anyway.”

“… What are you talking about, Niall?”

“The Irish lad scoffs and pushes Liam to the side. “You’re kidding, right? You didn’t see him?”

“See _who_?”

“My neighbour. He walked out of his apartment when you were carrying in that last box. He was practically _drooling_ over you, but whatever. _I’m_ still the cute one, obviously.”

“He was probably going to complain from all the noise you kept making from carrying in the _pillows_ , grunting like a gorilla,” Liam mutters under his breath, although he is blushing a bit. “And the music – you really need to turn that off. You might get kicked before you even stay here for a whole day.”

Niall pouts when Liam gets up and turns off the speakers with Niall’s phone on the dock. “No! Liam, now it’s too quiet!”

“You’ll thank me for this later, Ni.”

“That’s what you think. Now go get me some lunch! You owe me after doing _that_.”

“Alright, fine. What do you want to eat? And keep it within my budget, yeah? I’m not any richer than you are,” Liam reminds him.

With a roll of his eyes, Niall lies back on the couch and kicks his feet up to settle in a more relaxing position. Liam nearly scolds him for putting his shoes on the couch like that – it _is_ a brand new couch – but he only reminds himself that this is Niall’s new home now. He has finally moved out of Liam’s flat after getting back on his feet for what seems to be too long without finding a new job. It has been over six months since then, but at least _now_ , after a year, Niall is on a much better path. Liam’s proud of him.

“Come on, Nialler. I thought you were hungry.”

“I am! You know I always am,” the blond replies, “Just get me a sub. Maybe two, just in case.”

“In case of _what_?” Liam asks suspiciously, knowing there’s something more to what Niall is clearly implying. And Liam knows it can’t be anything ‘beneficial’ to him.

“Well, I mean, I still have to unpack, and that’ll probably take all of my appetite. Like, I gotta put away my clothes, dishes, – “

“Niall, don’t even – “

“But, Liam! I need all the help I can get from you!”

Liam just shakes his head and backs away towards the front door. “No, Niall. You’re just gonna make me do all the work again. My arms – _I’m_ too tired to help you unpack and settle. You know I’ve done more than enough already.”

“ _Please_ , Payno. It’ll be so much faster with your help.”

“Why can’t you call all your other friends? You have so many of them.“

“But only one bestie,” Niall tries, pouting excessively and looking like a dying puppy asking for help before it takes it last breath, and –

“Damn it,” Liam mutters as he gives in; as always.

“YAY!”

“You’re so lucky, Horan. So lucky you’re cute and my best friend… You little shit.”

“Love you too, babe! Now go get me my lunch so we can start ASAP! We got so many boxes to unpack. Oh! And we also have to put together my new bed, my dresser, and that new shelf you bought for me – Thanks for that, by the way – “

Fortunately for a certain brown-eyed lad, Liam is already out the door and closes it behind himself before he _explodes_ from all the things Niall will make him do by himself, because that’s exactly what Niall will do. It’s so predictable, yet here’s Liam, allowing himself to get sucked into Niall’s never-ending black hole of need.

“Damn his fucking eyes. And his cuteness… Ugh!”

“Wow. Aggressive much?”

Liam startles and quickly turns around to face the owner of that slightly husky, yet very lovely voice. He nearly chokes when he sees a tall lad with long, _long_ legs in tight black skinny jeans and a red plaid shirt on his upper body. Then of course there’s his mess of curls sitting atop his head long enough to reach past his shoulders. And how could Liam forget to mention those dazzling green eyes that just seem to sparkle with mischief…

 _Wow_ , Liam thinks, taking in the rest of that lad’s features, including his mouth, which consists of lovely pink lips set into a smirk –

“You’re not so bad yourself. But I like to be more subtle than that.”

“… Huh?”

“You were just checking me out, right?” the other lad points out cheekily, making his f***ing dimples pop out. _Of course he has dimples!_ Liam wonders, then curses himself for getting lost in the lad’s features again.

“I – That’s not… Wow, okay. I’m just gonna – I have to get lunch for me and my friend, so – “

“Maybe I can join you?”

“No,” Liam answers immediately, then regrets it just as fast when he sees the clear excitement on the other’s face fall. “I mean… It might take a while, and you’re probably busy – “

“Me? ‘Busy’? Not right now, no. I did just ask _you_ , right? So, I’m free, if you’re up for it.”

Blinking in confusion, Liam opens his mouth to say something, but thinks better of it. The other lad just chuckles and leans back against his front door. Liam feels even more flustered now, seeing how confident this lad really is, and how Liam should just go before he keeps embarrassing himself.

 _Sounds like a good plan_ , he thinks and settles for it.

“I – um, I gotta go now. So, bye.”

“Wait!” the curly-haired lad calls out to Liam as he practically runs to the end of the hall about to head down the stairs. “I thought I’d get to know my new neighbour at least.”

That makes Liam pause and turn back around slowly to look at him. “P- Pardon?”

“You just moved in next door, right?”

“What? Oh. You thought – No, no. You got it all wro- “

“I was trying to be neighbourly, you know,” the lad reminds him, starting to walk towards Liam now.

“Well, that’s very kind of you, but I’m not – My best friends is actually – “

“You’re not dating your best friend, are you? ‘Cause I wouldn’t dare ruin your relationship – “

Eyes widening, Liam awkwardly raises his arms from his side and gives the other lad a disbelieving look. “Uh, oh god. No, me and Niall, we’re not – _no_.”

“Great! So, how about that lunch then?”

“I – I can’t. I really can’t right now, and I’m not your – I really need to get lunch before Niall kills me.”

“Okay, fine. I see you’re gonna play hard to get. I can deal with that,” the other notes.

“N- no, I’m really not.”

“It’s fine. Just, you know, feel free to let me know when you’re available for that lunch you now owe me. I’m just next door. Right here. Waiting.”

“You don’t have to wait. And I don’t live – “

“Until then, you know exactly where to find me, … – What did you say your name was again?”

He just stands there in front of Liam, waiting patiently for a response as Liam tries to process everything. This is all just to surreal, but this lad is really standing there, asking Liam out... ??? _Like, what?!_ Instead of freaking out on him, Liam says, “Um, I never told you…?”

“Well, I just wanted a proper intro, you know?”

“Liam. My name is Liam… Payne – That’s my last name, and I’m just making this even more awkward. I really gotta go now. Bye!”

“I’m Harry!”

Waving a hand in acknowledgment behind himself, Liam reaches the bottom of the stairs and heads out the door as he calls back, “Nice to meet you then, Gary!” Then he’s out of the building and out of Harry’s sight.

“It’s actually Harry – Who am I kidding? You’re already gone,” Harry says with a sigh before turning around and heading to his apartment with a smile on his face. “Nice to meet you too, neighbour.”

 

~~~

 

“A little more to the left!”

“How about that?”

“No. Now it’s tilting too much to the left. More to the right, Liam!”

“Why can’t you do this yourself again?!” Liam demands as he slightly tilts the picture to the right. “Now?”

“There! It looks perfect!” Niall exclaims happily.

Shaking his head at him, Liam walks to where Niall is standing across the room and looks at the picture frame. “Are you kidding me, Niall?”

“What? It looks great, right?”

“Ni, it’s not straight. It’s tilted too much to the right now! You said – Ugh! It probably looked fine before I moved it a bit! How can you not tell it’s not straight? It clearly isn’t!”

“Stop yelling at me! You’re my bestie, remember? You’re just supposed to agree with me!”

“That’s never been a part of our friendship, Nialler.”

“Whatever,” Niall dismisses, walking to the kitchen to grab a bag of crisps. “And what do _you_ know about being straight?”

Liam chooses to ignore that before he regrets throwing the hammer in his hand at his best friend. Instead, he takes in a deep breath, then lets it out before he walks back over the picture frame and tilts it just a bit more to the right. He steps back far enough to look at it again, then nods to himself.

“There. _Now_ it’s straight.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Shut up, Niall,” Liam snaps, putting the hammer back in his tool box. “And you’re welcome, by the way.”

“Of course, ‘Mr. Handyman’. Always a pleasure to have you help me out.”

“You have to know how wrong that sounds.”

“I bet Gary wouldn’t mind your help. Why don’t you go next door and ask it if he needs help with anything? Like, I don’t know, actually give him a ‘handy’, yeah? Who wouldn’t appreciate th- “

He squawks when Liam stuffs a handful of crisps into Niall’s mouth to shut him up. Nearly choking to death, he bats his hand on Liam’s arm, but his best friend just chuckles and walks to the fridge to grab a beer. He throws a bottle at Niall, who flips him off after barely managing to catch it. He had to drop the bag of crisps in his hands, so he curses Liam and his family name overdramatically.

Just then, someone knocks on the front door. Liam looks at Niall questioningly, but the blond nods his head at the door to make Liam open it.

“Expecting anyone?”

“Probably the land lord. He told me he was gonna come by to ‘welcome’ me. How sweet is he?”

“Yeah, so ‘sweet’,” Liam says with a roll of his eyes before he walks over to the door. He takes a sip of his bottle of beer and opens the door –

“Hey there, neighbour!”

Liam just about spits the beer in Harry’s face, but luckily he chokes it down. He coughs as the beer most likely goes down the wrong tube and Harry’s eyes widen before he rubs Liam’s back soothingly. Harry asks if he’s okay, but Liam just keeps coughing and waves him off.

“Woah there. You really can’t take your liquor, can you, Payno?” Niall comments as he walks up behind Liam and pats his arm. “That’s it. Drink it down.”

“Oh my go- Shut up!” Liam hisses at his best friend once he stops coughing.

“Don’t be rude to our guest, Liam. He clearly came from a very far place. Come in, neighbour!”

“Actually, I just came over to give Liam a ‘welcoming gift’,” Harry informs them, looking at Liam with a smile. “Here you go. I hope you’re not allergic to anything, ‘cause that cake has a lot of ingredients and I was hoping you wouldn’t be allergic to any of them.”

“Wait. Why does _he_ get the cake? He doesn’t even live he- “

“Thank you, Harry! Nialler, why don’t you put this on the fridge so we can continue putting up the other picture frames?”

“But you don’t – “

“ _Niall_ ,” Liam cuts in, giving his best friend a ‘ _Please cooperate with me just this once_ ’ look.

The Irish lad gives him a ‘ _Really, Liam?_ ’ look of disbelief before he sighs and rolls his eyes, taking the cake from Liam’s hands. He gives Liam a pointed look and nods his head at Harry, who just looks confused the whole time.

“Um, should I have come by later?” Harry asks, raising an eyebrow at Liam, who feels even more flustered now.

“No, no. It’s fine. We just put up that picture in the living room – “

“That one with the horses running in a field?”

“Well – um, yeah. Niall happens to really like it so,… There it is,” Liam replies awkwardly.

“Do you always let Niall choose what pictures go up in _your_ home?”

“Ha!” Niall blurts out suddenly, making Liam jump and grind his teeth in annoyance. “Funny thing about ‘homes’ – “

“Niall, go eat something,” Liam demands, not looking behind himself to glare at Niall.

He hears a scoff come from his best friend and Liam bites his lip to keep from snapping at Niall. The blond ignores him and walks up to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. Harry blinks at Niall, then narrows his eyes at the arm Niall has around Liam.

“Was I interrupting something?”

“No!”

“Yes, actually. Isn’t it obvious that me and _my_ Liam were busy _making love_?”

“What?!” Liam squawks, looking at Niall in shock.

“Is that so?” Harry asks sharply, now directly his glare at Liam accusingly. “I thought you said you and Niall _aren’t_ dating?”

“Oh, please. He only said to let you down easily – Hey Louis!”

Liam and Harry look at each other in confusion before looking behind Harry to see a short, chestnut-haired lad with sharp blue eyes standing in the hallway. Niall beams at him, pulling his arm away from Liam. He’s already over trying to make Liam regret lying about this apartment being his.

“Hello, Niall. Don’t you have a lot of visitors already?”

“Hold on. ‘Visitors’? I thought Liam – “

“I just remembered I have to get home and feed my dog!” Liam interrupts Harry, waving his arms frantically to distract all of them. “His name is Loki, and he’s probably lonely right now, so I gotta go.”

“Aren’t you already home?” Harry asks, pointing inside the apartment.

“Shit.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that, Payno. You really are ‘shit’ at lying,” Niall agrees with a laugh, then pats Liam’s shoulder.

At that, Harry looks taken aback and asks Liam, “You were lying to me?”

“Well, no. I mean – I never meant to lie to you, but you kept interrupting me when I was trying to tell you that _Niall_ is actually your neighbour. But then you kept asking me out – “

“He asked you out? You didn’t tell me that,” Niall says disapprovingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“ – and you’re really cute, but I kept embarrassing myself, so I said ‘no’ – “

“You said ‘ _no_ ’ to Harry?” Louis questions, then chuckles as he slaps Harry on the back. “Well, isn’t that a first for you, Harold? I mean, I guess there is a first for everything. Better luck next time, mate. You’re still young, anyway. They’ll be others.”

“ – But now I regret saying ‘no’ to you, ‘cause – _look_ at you. And I was gonna tell you after that I would love to have lunch with you – “

“You do?” Harry asks excitedly now smiling at Liam rambling.

The brown-eyed lad nods, then groans at himself for not actually replying out loud. “Yes. But as you can tell, I’m so awkward, and I already messed everything up by lying to you from the beginning. I shouldn’t have done that – I know. And I’ll be leaving now, ‘cause I’m clearly making things worse… Loki needs me.”

“… Maybe your dog can wait a little longer?”

“What?”

“Ahem,” Niall says as he clears his throat and leans into Liam to say, “Pretty sure he’s asking you out again, mate”

“H- he is?” Liam softly asks in a daze, blushing madly now.

“Yeah, I am,” Harry answers in a whisper, then chuckles as Liam startles a bit.

“O- okay. Then, um, sure – I’d love to.”

Smiling at that response, Harry says, “Great. We can go out or stay in for some coffee or tea… I have both at my place, so – “

“Staying in sounds nice,” Liam replies immediately.

“Good choice. And I promise it’s good coffee or tea at my apartment.”

“I’m sure,” Louis mutters as Liam follows Harry out of Niall’s apartment and into his apartment across the hall. “He lied, you know? He doesn’t have any good tea; just s***ty healthy drinks. Cheeky monkey, that Harold is. Just wanted to get into your friend’s pants.”

“Nah. I bet he really likes Liam,” Niall disagrees, motioning for Louis to enter his apartment.

“You sure about that? ‘Cause I’ve been Harry’s land lord for a few years now, and he’s only ever had some ‘fun’ with people he’s brought to his home.”

“Well, Liam’s different. I know my best friend.”

“Right… So, how about I start ‘welcoming’ you to the building, Horan?”

With a smirk on Louis’ face and Niall letting the older lad push him down on the couch, the blond smiles and captures Louis’ lips in a kiss. Because, yes, Niall has slept and will continue to sleep with Louis as a grateful gesture for giving him this apartment to live in. Not that Liam needs to know that.

He still has a pay rent every month. It just happens to be half the regular amount because of the sex. No biggie, really.

 

~~~

 

“You really didn’t know?”

“Well, _no_! He never told me!” Liam exclaims, nearly spilling the cup of tea in his hand. “I mean, all he told me was that he found a new apartment to live in, so he wouldn’t have to keep living with me. How could he not tell me?”

“So he just left out the part of him sleeping with Louis, his land lord, just to live across the hall?” Harry asks in amusement, holding back a smile threatening to appear on his face.

“This isn’t funny!”

“It kinda is, Liam. And you’re being really cute about it.”

“’Cute’? How am I being ‘cute’ about it? My best friend got his apartment because he slept with his land lord!”

“ _Sleeping_ with his land lord.”

At that correction, Liam pulls a disgusted face and sets his cup of tea down on the table. “’Sleeping with' – Oh god.”

“Aw. That’s rude to your best friend and Louis. He’s not a bad guy, you know.”

“But then that means – Oh _god_.”

Harry laughs and leans back in his chair as he watches Liam really take in that information. “Yeah. That means they’re probably doing ‘it’ right now. And you have _me_ to thank for getting you out of there to spare you such a sight.”

“I’m sure that’s why you asked me out,” Liam counters with a smile.

“Do you count this as a date, then?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I mean, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to take me out to a nice, fancy restaurant that serves tiny meals you can’t possibly get full from. Then maybe a walk on the beach after that… “

“Ah. So you’re into the whole ‘romantic package’?”

“Well, I mean, if you’re really trying to ‘woo’ me, then why not go all the way?”

“How about we do that _after_ I take you out to dinner tonight at the most expensive restaurant I know, then walk on the beach – You know, the whole ‘shebang’?” Harry suggests sweetly, leaning forward to get closer to Liam.

Silence falls between them as Liam sits there in shock, hands on his cup of tea, which is now pretty cold.

“So, what do you say now?”

“That – That sounds perfect,” Liam finally answers happily.


End file.
